Weekly Menus February 2016

Your weekly menus February 2016 are here. As always you will find vegetarian, beef, chicken and pork recipes to choose from. I have tried to give you easy and delicious recipes that will help you feed the family delicious and healthy food. If there is anything you do not like please feel free to check out all of the other hundreds of choices on the website.

Monday’s soup is very healthy and can be made over the weekend without any problem. Simply heat it up when you are ready to eat. Serve it with a nice piece of crusty bread and butter. If you have left overs send them to work or school in a lunch box. Talk about power food.

Tuesday’s dinner is fun. You can make the beef in no time. Perhaps the longest thing will be chopping the veggies. I like spreading everything out and letting everyone assemble their own taco. Kids absolutely love these.

If you have left over beef, freeze it. You can use it on the taco pizza you will be making in a couple of weeks or to add on to a salad. The same goes for left over vegetables. Place them into a container and take a salad to work on Wednesday for lunch.

Wednesday’s spinach and cheese pie is extremely easy to make. I make it with store bought puff pastry but you can also use pie shells. This is a vegetarian meal that is similar to a Greek Spanakopita. It is very tasty and can be eaten warm or at room temperature. Send leftover’s to school or the office for lunch the following day.

Thursday’s meal can also be made fairly quickly. You can get ahead of the game and cook your noodles in advance. Strain them, shock them and put a little olive oil on them to prevent them from sticking. Put them in to a zip locked bag in the fridge.

Make sure to buy the little scallops in the freezer. They are cheaper. However, if you want to substitute them for shrimp that would be perfectly fine. You will also have to use frozen asparagus for this recipe.

Friday’s sausage and peppers can be served in a sandwich or over pasta or polenta. This meal will take you minutes to be ready and is a hit. If you can find it Italian sausage would be your best bet for this recipe. This is finger licking good and delicious.

Monday’s sweet potato and quinoa patties can be made in advance and frozen. They will thaw quickly so no worries. In fact, cooking them a little frozen will prevent them from falling apart. top these with your favorite salsa and you have a complete meal.

Tuesday’s beef stew can easily be made in a slow cooker. Get everything prepped and let it cook all day. When you get back from work you will have a delicious smelling house and dinner will be ready. Can’t beat that!

The only thing I would advice for this is that you brown the beef before putting it in the slow cooker. Otherwise you will end up with boiled beef.

Wednesday’s soup is hearty and great for cold days. I make it with little pasta but you can use any pasta you prefer. I like to make my soup thick but if you prefer it with more broth you can either add less pasta or more liquid.

Thursday’s chop suey is an all time favorite. I use sausage for mine but you can definitely use ground beef if you prefer. This is an easy and delicious meal that packs beautifully in lunch boxes for school or the office if you have some left over.

Friday’s dinner could be made ahead of time and frozen. Make it on your day off and take it out of the freezer before you head out to work. That way you can pop it into the oven when you get home. This is a casserole that will keep well for a couple of days. Left overs are awesome.

The taco pizza you are going to have on Monday is very fun to make. It is also a big hit. Go ahead and use store bought pizza dough to make it faster. You can prepare the meat a few days in advance and freeze it if you would like. Serve your pizza slices with a side of sour cream and store bought guacamole and salsa if you want.

Of course, if you want to make guacamole or salsa at home that is always a fantastic option!

Tuesday’s soup is absolutely delicious. It is super easy to make. All I can recommend is that you make sure the leeks are cleaned very well. They are full of dirt and you don’t want that in your soup. This is a very satisfying meal.

Go ahead and make the turkey burgers for Wednesday in advance and freeze them. In fact, make a whole bunch so that you have them ready when you are. This is a pretty straight forward sandwich with a variety of South Western flavors. Delicioso!

As with all pasta meals, you can get ahead of yourself and cook the pasta for your macaroni and cheese a day early. Drain it, shock it with cold water so it stops cooking and coat the pasta with a little bit of olive oil. Place it in the fridge in a sealed bag.

Making the cheese sauce for your casserole is really not a big deal. This is a meal that everyone loves. Comfort food at its best.

Friday’s meal is quite special. You will be pan searing some pork chops and them making a little sauce with red wine and grapes. This will turn a very ordinary week night meal into an extraordinary one.

The two most important rules when pan searing meats are you must have a hot pan and you have to let the meat form a brown crust before you flip it. Be patient and allow the meat to do it’s thing. If you hurry the process you will not have a perfectly and beautiful seared piece of meat.

Monday’s lentil soup can be made over the weekend. This is one of those soups that tastes better a couple of days after you cook it. Having said that, please do not keep food in the fridge for more than 3 days. Eat the food before that.

You will need day old rice for Tuesday’s meal so go ahead and cook it on Monday (or Sunday for that matter). The rice will dry up in the fridge for a better result. Although the recipe was made with only peas you can add pork, chicken, beef, shrimp or ham to this. You can also add carrots, bean sprouts, bok choy, Napa cabbage, green beans or any other vegetable of your preference. This will turn a side dish into a main meal.

This is a great way to use up little bits and pieces of meats or veggies that you might have in the fridge because you really only need small amounts of each one.

Wednesday’s fish is made very quickly. It is easy and ultra satisfying. I had someone tell me she roasted veggies and served it with the baked fish on top. The cheese sauce seeped onto the veggies and it was perfect. They loved it. This fish is pretty special.

Thursday’s chicken fingers are also very easy to make. You can get ahead of yourself by having the chicken all cut ahead of time. Or, buy frozen chicken tenders for this and thaw the quantity you will be using.

Friday’s beef chili is loaded in spices and flavor. You can make this ahead and freeze it. Simply thaw it the morning you will be serving it and heat it before dinner.This beef is cooked very slowly and has no beans. You can make this as spicy as you like and garnish it with chopped red onions, sour cream or grated cheese. However, it is so flavorful you really do not need to add anything to it at all. Serve it with some super easy and moist skillet corn bread for a perfect way to end the week.

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The Frugal Chef

This website was created to help anyone who is interested in learning how to cook healthy meals without going broke! It is my absolute desire that I can help you get organized, save money on food and share my recipes with you! Here’s to a new way of life!